on the broadcast tonight, what if the united states really does default on its obligations? time running out on a deal and tonight there are new lines in the sand. he walks, for now. a stunning development today, roger clemens on trial and then suddenly he's not. tonight we'll look at what happened and what's next. help wanted. how bad is this economy right now? this is what it looks like when jobs and opportunities open these days. and why we loved her. on this day when she was laid to rest, some of the humor and honesty and humanity of betty ford in her own words. >> being lady like does not require silence.

>> being lady like does not require silence. "nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television good evening. if you need any further or more graphic evidence of how bad the economy is across this country right now, take a look at these pictures and we'll fill in the stories in just a moment. the human stampede that took place just for the chance at federal housing assistance. and the thousands who showed up for a shot at a job at an auto plant hoping to win the job lottery. because things are so bad, because the stakes are so high, the talks that have been going on in washington to raise the nation's debt ceiling and then some could not be more important right now, and with a major deadline approaching, august 2, it's time to consider at least what happens if they don't have a deal. it's where we begin tonight, we'll start off our coverage with nbc's kristen welker at the

white house. kristen, good evening. >> reporter: brian, good evening. a source close to the talks tells me that tonight's discussion was not tense, that president obama continued to push for a very big deal, well that did not happen. and now here's the headline, there are no talks scheduled for tomorrow. the president and congressional leaders convened for a fifth time in as many days, but still no deal to raise the debt limit. the treasury secretary has warned the nation will default on its loans if an agreement isn't reached by august 2. >> we have looked at all available options and we have no way to give the congress more time to solve this problem. >> reporter: the president continuing to call for action. >> what's required here in washington is that politicians understand now is not the time to play games, now is not the time to posture, now is the time to do what's right by the country. >> reporter: this after tense

talks on wednesday, at one point the president said enough is enough to house majority leader eric cantor for his refusal to give in on tax hikes. cantor says mr. obama stormed out of the meeting which democratic sources deny. >> there's really only one person who has not made any concessions and that is majority leader cantor. >> reporter: today, cantor stood his ground. >> we're not going to raise the debt ceiling if we don't have cuts in excess of that amount that we don't want to raise taxes. >> reporter: republicans seeming to close ranks today amidst reports that cantor has undercut speaker john boehner. >> let me just say we have been in this fight together. and any suggestion that the role that eric has played in this meeting has been anything less than helpful is just wrong. >> reporter: the urgency to get a deal done heightened by two major credit agencies, warning they would downgrade the nation's top notch credit rating if a deal isn't reached soon. senate majority leader harry

reid says it's a wakeup call. >> we have just a few hours, maybe just a few days to work this out. >> reporter: there has been some chatter about moving the talks to camp david to create a relaxed and private environment to try to break this deadlock. that never gained any traction and my source tells me that the next time they will hold these talks will possibly, possibly be during the weekend. brian? >> kristen welker starting us off at the white house. kristen, thanks. and now again, this deadline is august 2. it's been called the unthinkable, most people think they will somehow hammer out a deal, preventing the government from defaulting on its obligations, but it doesn't hurt to ask at this point, what if they don't? nbc's tom costello is with us from our d.c. newsroom tonight. tom, good evening. >> most financial analysts and economists are in agreement on this issue that if the u.s. were to default on its debt, the fragile economic recovery now underway could be seriously threatened. >> reporter: if the country

needed another warning about the risks of not raising the debt ceiling, the nation's top banker today used very simple and direct language. >> i think it would be a calamitous outcome, it would create a very severe financial shock that would have effects not only on the u.s. economy but the global economy. >> reporter: fed chairman ben bernanke warns the shock would immediately cascade from the banking sector and into the nation's heartland. here's how. most analysts agree that interest rates on u.s. treasury bonds would quickly rise and that would push all interest rates higher, including new mortgages, credit cards, car and small business loans, eventually affecting prices for everything we buy. meanwhile the bipartisan policy center estimates the government would immediately have to slash spending by 44%. president obama would ultimately have to choose between cutting military salaries, unemployment benefits, student loans, defense contracts, federal law enforcement, courts, civil

service jobs, medicare and interest rate payments to u.s. bondholders. despite the social security trust fund, analysts say those checks would still be at risk. the former director of the congressional budget office. >> all the money comes into the treasury and all the money goes out and when you're working in real time dollars are dollars. and so social security is just like everything else. >> reporter: while skeptics disagree over whether august 2 is a true deadline for when the country defaults, most analysts don't want to chance it. >> if they don't act it could seriously undermine confidence in the u.s. treasury, in the u.s. dollar and in the united states in general. >> reporter: and that could put the financial markets into a tail spin. should it happen, scholars say it would be the first true national default in the nation's history. now there's an argument that the 14th amendment makes defaulting unconstitutional and as a last resort, that could give the president the authority to raise the debt ceiling on his own. but that's clearly not what the white house wants to resort to, brian.

>> all right, tom, we're still in for days of this and we'll follow it closely. tom costello in our national newsroom. thanks. now to one of the stories we mentioned at the top of the broadcast, this scene that you're about to see happened in dallas, texas, and what a sign of the economic times there today. a huge crowd lined up beginning last night for a chance to just fill out an application for federal housing assistance. when the line moved toward the building in the early hours of the morning after waiting all night, a stampede broke out. several people were injured in the crowd including a pregnant woman. this morning marked the first time in two years the dallas housing authority has accepted applications for section 8 housing vouchers. also in the news tonight, our environment. now to what some are calling the great drought of 2011. the state of texas, for one, one of the 14 states suffering and sweltering through this disaster some have been comparing to the

dust bowl of the 1930s, an epic drought the experts started tracking back in february. it hasn't stopped spreading and now covers just about the entire lower third of this country. water supplies are drying up, crops, cattle are dying and there's no relief in sight, sadly. nbc's tom trung is in waller, texas, just north of houston, tonight. tom, good evening. >> reporter: brian, good evening to you. this drought is choking the life out of cattle and crops. just take a look at this parched corn field. one of the hardest hit areas is right here in texas, the first six of months of the year have been the driest in more than a century. the drought that's baking most of the south is the worst since scientists started tracking drought conditions more than a century ago. almost 12% of the country is now enduring a brutal combination of high temperatures and too little rain. in texas 213 of 254 counties have been declared disaster areas.

some ranchers struggling to feed their cattle are forced to either sell or slaughter them. normally fertile farm lands are bone dry. the texas farm bureau says the state's wheat crop is a loss, and hardest hit here is cotton, which accounts for half of the u.s. crop. estimated agricultural losses in texas alone total more than $3 billion. >> i can remember it being dry, i can remember it being wet, but never this dry, never this hot. >> reporter: in oklahoma, there's no relief in sight. >> talk about this long-term severe drought is going to take some major tropical moisture to actually get us close to average for much of the state and it does not look like that's in the cards here for the next week or so, and that's some bad news. >> reporter: in central georgia, formers hoping for yellow corn are seeing only rows of withering brown stalks. >> the drought has affected this area very severely, the corn crop is going to be way off this year. >> reporter: farther south in florida, this should be the rainy season.

but at lake okeechobee, water levels are dangerously low, potentially disastrous for the more than 6 million people who depend on this reservoir for their drinking water and recreation. >> no business for everybody around the lake, probably no water for palm beach county to drink. >> reporter: the drought has fueled an outbreak of wildfires from arizona to florida, burning 5 million acres so far, searing images of a scorching summer so far. while there is a small amount of rain forecast for this reason, it's a debt landscape that's going to take years to recover. >> tom, thanks. and while it's always feast or famine, elsewhere we have had some wild weather across the country this week, it got really wild in denver last night. a hailstorm damaged 40 different aircraft as three-quarter inch wide hail fell for about 15 minutes, the winds there reached 75 knots, the storm set a new single-day record for rainfall at the airport and because o

all the flight cancellations, 1,000 people have to spend the night inside the airport terminal there at dia. there was a dramatic twist today in a courtroom in washington, d.c., where the star pitcher roger clemens is on trial for lying about whether he used performance-enhancing drugs. the trial had just gotten underway when the judge declared a mistrial. it was a huge setback for the government, may be the end of this case. our justice correspondent pete williams live tonight from federal district court. pete, what went on there today? >> reporter: well, brian, the prosecutors didn't even make it to first base when the judge called this game because of a serious foul. so this trial is now over in just its second day and there's a question about whether roger clemens can be put on trial again. outside the courthouse, fans were waiting for him today asking for autographs, wishing him well, one even hugged him and he smiled, something he hasn't done much since this case began.

it all ended abruptly after the judge declared a mistrial. after the prosecutor showed the jury something that he had earlier declared off-limits. it was an excerpt from the congressional hearing three years ago where the government says clemens lied when he denied using performance-enhancing drugs. a member of that committee read a statement from the wife of a former clemens teammate, but because she had not talked to clemens about using those drugs, the judge said the jury shouldn't hear that. >> and what about if they can come back at him a second time? >> the lawyers will tell the judge what they think, his defense lawyers and then the government. and then the judge will make a decision in early september about whether the constitution's guarantee against double jeopardy bars another trial, if it does bar another trial, then roger clemens would be off the hook.

>> roger could walk and he won't have to spend a single day inside court this summer. pete williams outside the federal district court. pete, thanks. to presidential politics tonight and while it's way early yet, michele bachmann has emerged as something of a rock star on the right. at the top of the polls in the state where she was born in iowa and she's gaining nationally as well. but as any front-runner will tell you, with that status comes closer scrutiny and that's exactly what's now happening to michele bachmann, the story tonight from nbc's kelley o'donnell. >> that's what we're trying to figure out. >> reporter: republican congresswoman michele bachmann's day job is wrapped up in the debt limit showdown. >> i know i'm raising the debt ceiling right now. >> reporter: the gop contender hammers the president, always a magnet for attention and criticism, like when she mispronounced the yiddish word chutzpah. >> because he has a lot of chutzpah. he spent a trillion dollars on the stimulus, it failed.

>> reporter: last week bachmann signed an iowa conservative group's 14-point marriage vow in which she pledged vigorous opposition to same-sex marriage or any change to traditional marriage. but on a separate page, the group made a startling claim. a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised in a two-parent household than a child born after president obama's election. aides say kbaukman sign -- balk man signed only the candidate portion of the document. >> it's absurd to think that a child would be better off raised in slavery than not. >> reporter: bachmann's past comments against homosexuality are also getting scrutiny. she referenced the devil and said homosexuals need compassion. >> it's a very sad life, it's part of satan i think to say this is gay, it's anything but gay. >> reporter: there's new criticism aimed at the counseling clinic owned by

bachmann and her husband dr. marcus. a gay rights activist took undercover video last month and says he was told prayer and therapy could make him straight. bachmann has avoided questions on the clinic, aides say she cannot respond because of patient confidentiality. bachmann's social views help make her a front-runner in iowa. aides tell me she'll release her latest figures tomorrow and claim they're pleased with the numbers. kelly o'donnell, nbc news, washington. and when we come back here tonight, another sign of our economic times, as thousands of people anxiously wait to hear if they have won a shot at a job interview. and later, wit and humor and speaking the truth, it's not always easy, but betty ford always seemed to find a way.

we mentioned this next story briefly at the top of the broadcast tonight as well. this will be a nervous night in and around louisville, kentucky for tens of thousands of people who filled out applications for a job interview. ford motor is retooling, reopening a production plant.

that means 1,800 new jobs there. demand for the jobs is so high, they're holding a lottery tomorrow to decide who they can talk to about filling them. our report from nbc's mark potter. >> reporter: in the early morning heat, the line is already long at the state employment office in louisville, kentucky. ron heinsman drove an hour and a half from cincinnati to fill out an application, afraid if he doesn't find work now, he'll be foreclosed. >> i'm currently losing my house. my wife's working, so i got two -- i got a 2-year-old, i got an 8-year-old. >> reporter: drawing most of the job seekers is an announcement by the ford motor corporation that it's reopening it's louisville assembly plant and is hiring 1,800 workers. the plant which began production in 1955 building edsels is being retooled to make the new ford escape. >> it's great to be growing

again and we're very excited about that. in particular growing in this community. >> reporter: at the employment office, nearly 17,000 people have applied for the 1,800 jobs, a lottery will determine who can be interviewed. vickie london applied but especially hopes ford hires her nephews, michael and ryan who can't find work anywhere. >> it's terrible, it's terrible. they have applied at a lot of different places and they're just not getting call backs. >> reporter: in louisville, the nearly 10% unemployment rate is slightly above the national average. >> it's one of the biggest job announcements in this region for years. >> reporter: for mayor greg fisher, the new jobs are welcome news. >> it's a long time coming for these jobs and what it represents for individuals is some hope, you know, that there is a path forward and people need hope right now. unemployment has been too high for too long. >> reporter: and community leaders say for every new job here at the plant, at least eight more are created on the outside to supply and support the operation. even more hope in tough times. >> thank you, ford.

i see a light at the end of the tunnel. hopefully other opportunities will arise as well. >> reporter: at least some of the unemployed here will finally get a break. mark potter, nbc news, louisville. when we come back, i guess there's always entertainment, the nominations are in, television prepares to salute it's very best. s very best.

the emmy nominations are out. some of the big winners were "madmen," they went big a 19, hbo did well, so did "snl." we're happy for jimmy fallon's three nominations. and the nomination that went to some of the great women of nbc shows. there's amy poller, there's sn wlrks's -- "snl's" kristen wig who was nominated. tina fey got her 19th. then there's the amazing connie britain, she was nominated as

well. congrats to all the nominees, the entire list is on our website. we find out the winner september 18. now it's just one day away, what southern californians are calling carmageddon, the closing of the 405 freeway for 53 hours of construction. last night here, we told you about the special jetblue fares, $4 one way from burbank to long beach, those are sold out. they sold those tickets in less than three hours. and the lapd is asking celebrities to help get the word out. tom hank sent this out, this weekend, l.a., avoid carmageddon, gas-zilla, 405 grid lock-apalossza, eat and shop local. when we continue here tonight, an american icon who has now gone home. we'll hear from betty ford in her own words over the years.

betty ford went home to grand rapids, michigan today and was buried next to the man she always called her boyfriend, former president gerald ford. honor guards carried her casket into the church where they were married almost 60 years ago to the day. among the mourners today, former vice president dick cheney, first lady barbara bush and former president clinton. ford's daughter susan read from scriptures and her son a former navy man offered the eulogy. >> if our family was a fleet of ships, dad was the aircraft carrier, i know that. and if mom was in our fleet, which she was, she was the hospital ship. she was the one with the love and the comfort and she was the

first one there to put her arms around you. >> and we wanted to end our broadcast tonight with some of the humor and the humanity and the honesty of betty ford over the years and in her own words. >> i do not believe that being first lady should prevent me from expressing my ideas. [ applause ] i think it's time that the women step up and take their place. i can remember being upstairs and thinking, i've got to go down and face all those reporters and that was probably -- i think maybe the scariest thing i ever did. we must value our own talents. before we can expect acceptance from others. somehow they put that first lady up on a pedestal, whether you deserve it or want it, you're still put there.

being lady like does not require silence. [ applause ] you have come a long, long way. the contribution of women as wives and mothers continue to be under rated. we have to take that just out of "just a housewife." [ applause ] hello, mary, this is betty ford. >> hi, betty. this is mary. queen of scotts. >> i just want you to be yourself. it's hard to tie down a woman these days. you can't overcome anything unless you face it. and it's standing up to it and

doing something about it. i think that's what we're here on this earth for is to help others. and if you can, you ought to do it. >> the incomparable betty ford with a cameo on "mary tyler moore." that's our broadcast for this thursday night. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams, as always we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good nightni >> right now at 6:00, as the fub fib investigates a phone hacking scandal across the world we go in depth to find out how easy it is for hackers to get into your phone. >> on the rise. tense exchanges as uc regents vote to increase tuition again across the system. >> and there is a safe haven for the little means to afford health care, for those with little means. free health clinics deal with the crisis. the news at